Where once the southern border of Blossom Forest was made by Leisure Lake, the magical rearrangement of the lands has laid there instead a vast, uncrossable ocean. The shore differs as you travel along it. Tall mountainous cliffs arise on the western part and at one point, the large river that runs through Blossom Forest opens up at its tributary into a well sheltered cove. As you come more eastward, the towering peaks shorten into rocky foothills. A large section of the shore is inaccessible to most, as Uyaraut has claimed it as their own. But if you skirt around their territory, the hills disappear, swallowed up into the land until it is as flat as the eye can see. The vibrant greens dull into short and dry browns and tans, and the land dries and cracks apart until it melds into The Waste - the desert that forms Blossom Forest’s easternmost border.

For those looking to hunt here, there are of course the fish within the ocean, along with crabs, seals and urchins. For on the shore, there are seagulls, herons, and ospreys.

Now that everyone was on the same page, all pledged to help in this quest, Dante felt they needed to discuss strategies rather than just diving right in to a scrap against the bear awaiting them. He liked that she was treating it in this way. To be too impulsive was the death of many wolves. Dakota kept his eyes cast downward and ears swiveled towards the others in the group, listening intently to his future pack mates giving suggestions. Well, not future anymore, right? This was it. They had all given their promise. They were a pack. Nimueh came out of the gate swinging with the rather ingenious idea of utilizing the beehives that would be nestled in any number of trees during this time of year.

The other male, who in the time since Dakota had last spoken, had introduced himself as Rodan, seemed fully on board with that plan. He offered himself as a distraction and a front line of attack if necessary. Yes, it all did seem to be fitting together nicely but something about the plan was tugging at the rusty colored male’s thoughts. He had never personally had any altercations with any bears but most wolves that hailed from woodsy areas knew about bears. The two species had coexisted for hundreds of years, really only treading on each other if there was food to be stolen or younglings to be protected. The beehives were probably the reason the bear decided to camp its ass in the middle of the territory in the first place.

“I like the idea; it’s clever and uses more than just our bodies to combat our enemy. Well done, ma’am.” He couldn’t help a small, facetious smile at his use of the word ma’am. He hadn’t known Nimeuh more than twenty minutes; maybe it was too early to be teasing her. “but I also think it’s incomplete. We’re not taking on another pack of wolves, here, we have to consider the enemy. I’m no expert on a bear’s daily life or anything, but I do recall that bears like to eat bees or maybe the sweet gold that the bees make, whichever. The point is, bears like to dig around in beehives. I don’t think it makes sense to assume they’re immune to the bees, just tolerant maybe. I think the hive would serve as a distraction at most. Definitely something we should utilize but we shouldn’t count on that to be the end of it…”

He paused, gathering his thoughts. His expression showed that he was clearly still stitching together exactly what he wanted to say.

They’re stubborn, any top tier predator is. If we were dealing with a cougar, or bobcat, or even other wolves it would come down to that same point. I’m not sure if our end goal is to kill the bear or just drive it away. It’s not really my call; I’m here to achieve whatever it is that we set out to do, whatever that means. If we are just trying to drive it away then intimidation and numbers will be our best tools after the trick with the hive. Back to the point of it being stubborn, if we're just trying to drive it away then we have to convince it that it shouldn't be fighting us. Hit it with the hive, cause it some pain and make it stumble for a few minutes. Meanwhile those of us that weren’t involved with dropping the hive need to take position around the bear. I’d say our two most intimidating in the front, baring teeth and foaming at the mouth, all of that. Then the rest interspersed throughout the trees in the background, all set up by the time the bear recovers from the beehive. We’ll look like a larger group than we are, especially because in this format the bear isn’t going to know if they’re actually seeing all of us or not. Hm… will probably help the illusion if it’s evening but before it’s completely dark out, too. It’s always possible the bear will choose to strike instead of run off, in which case we’ll need to be ready, but there’s a reason that wolves and bears haven’t wiped each other off the map yet. Unless there's really something to fight over we pretty much leave each other alone, right? We just have to make ourselves look like more trouble than it’s worth for whatever it is that attracted the bear to the area in the first place.”

Dakota paused to let his idea sink in on the group, he looked around trying to gauge from their faces if they were agreeing or not. He wasn’t as outside-the-box clever as Nimeuh or as brawnish as Rodan, but he did have some assets. He had always had a tactical mind. Using the brawn and clever ideas of others, he was the one that could formulate plans out of the pieces.

“There is some level of risk. If we go with the intimidation tactic and it fails, then we’ve given up our chance of striking the bear while it’s busy with the hive. If it’s successful, though, then we reduce the possible injuries to the pack to… none. We can come up with other plans as well; there’s going all in and trying to kill the damn-“ He was getting more intense in his speaking, the lighthearted and snarky Dakota nowhere to be found on his current façade, and without thinking about it had let loose some less than civil language. His eyes dropped to Seraphina, the young one, and darted back up to Dante in apology before continuing. “Er... kill the darned thing or we can try negotiating though while I can help with that in suggesting leverage, someone more… politically adept than I would have to take the lead on it.”

Negotiating with bears. Yes, he realized how outlandish he probably sounded, but he was a big believer in considering all possibilities. He also didn’t personally know any dialect of bear but he did have a rough handle on the Basic Standard Language of the region, and being from around the same area, the bear probably would too. So if the pack really did want to attempt negotiating of any kind he could probably stand in as a translator. If needed. To be honest, even though he was the one who suggested it and despite actually having an idea or two for leverage, he wasn’t sure how confident he was in the idea of attempting negotiations with a bear, anyways. Like previously stated, he just liked to consider all possibilities, even the crazy ones. He bowed his head for a brief moment, dismissing himself from the speaking position in the group and allowing input and suggestions now from anyone else. He was hoping Dante would speak up and make the decision for the pack regarding the outcome she was seeking; to kill the bear or not.